Noticing that Riley’s expression had darkened sharply, Nina drove the point home one more time.

“Your illustrations have already strayed far from the function of journalism.”

Those words hit Riley just as hard.

She sat there, lips moving without sound, when the door flew open and someone walked in.

“I heard there was a guest?”

It was Andrea.

“Ah, Nina.”

He walked in as though it were his own house, sliced through the stiff atmosphere with a man’s easy indifference, and held out his hand to Riley.

“Get up. We said we’d take the Teri today.”

Watching him, Nina suddenly remembered Edwin’s warning, and it pricked at something deep in her chest.

‘You’re the one crossing the line, Nina. Don’t forget that we can’t impose our thinking on His Highness. He’s someone who can’t stand even His Majesty’s interference.’

Edwin had probably sensed Nina was going to do something and warned her in advance.

But Nina had her own justification inside.

Now is a critical time to completely suppress the opposition. So it won’t do for His Highness to lose his drive for the fight like this.

The truth was that on that day, Nina looked the other way at the jealousy buried at the very bottom of her heart, the jealousy that wanted to be the heroine herself.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Several hours later, Riley found herself flustered after boarding the Teri with Andrea.

Dinner at the onboard café and watching an opera had been fresh and enjoyable. But the opera’s story happened to be about a female attendant disguised as a man and the prince who discovered the truth too late.

The male singer’s voice, rich and fl*id across a wide range, rang out into the night air.

Oh, why did you deceive me

Was it all a lie, even your laughter

The drinks we shared, the talks at night

Like brothers, like friends

You were always by my side!

Why did you not tell me, Rosanne

Standing beside me, trembling all along

Before the truth only I did not know

I was a foolish, foolish man

A blind man with open eyes

Only now do I truly see you

Oh, lovely as a lilac in bloom

Only now do I know the real you~

Good heavens!

Riley flushed and glanced sideways at Andrea.

But he just sat there with his arms folded, watching the performance with an unreadable expression.

She narrowed her eyes and studied his face, and the answering song of the actress flowed out on a gentle melody. It was a genuinely heartbreaking voice.

Forgive me, Your Highness

I can no longer meet your eyes

My life was not a choice

To survive…… I had to endure alone

By your side I was always happy

Feeling safe

But when did it begin, I wonder

The fear of being found out, returning

My heart, my chest, beginning to beat again~

Riley twisted the gloves in her hands without realizing it.

The story was similar to her own situation, but more than that, it was too tender and too earnest.

Hmm…… we’re not quite like that, but surely His Highness isn’t reading himself into this……

But sure enough, Andrea had a faint, peculiar smile at the corner of his mouth, the look of someone lost in a memory.

Suspicion flared in Riley, and she asked outright.

“You didn’t…… happen to personally oversee the script for this opera, did you?”

Andrea raised one eyebrow with arrogant composure, glanced at Riley at last, and scoffed.

“What are you talking about. I don’t meddle in the arts.”

It was an honest-sounding answer from someone who was actively meddling in the press, so Riley decided to believe it was a coincidence.

But she had apparently poked something, because Andrea began to smirk.

“Why? Does it bother you?”

She was glaring at him with his eyes full of mischief when the male and female singers launched into a duet.

When did you begin to think of me

When did you place me in those beautiful blue eyes of yours?

And you? When did you begin!

Watching the singers raise their voices as though competing, Riley grew more and more restless.

Ugh…… this is embarrassing somehow.

But Andrea’s expression had grown a little serious.

He turned his head and studied her for a long, thoughtful moment, long enough to make her uncomfortable, then asked an unexpected question.

“Come to think of it, when did you start liking me?”

Andrea had answered Riley’s question about when he had started liking her with honest directness, saying it was from when she had started touching his body in that strange way.

But he had never received any confession in return from Riley.

The ambush was unexpected, and Riley went silent for a moment, struck dumb.

Andrea gave a slight frown.

“What, don’t tell me you’re about to say you don’t even like me and you just wanted to try having a romance.”

Andrea’s eyes went genuinely cold, and Riley denied it in a hurry.

“No. I, I like you. I do like you!”

Saying it out loud only made her more embarrassed, but the two performers on stage were in the middle of a passionate declaration of love, and that at least softened the blow.

But Andrea showed no sign of letting it go easily and pressed again.

“Since when, then, hmm?”

Riley sat there with Andrea leaning in close and looming over her, and drifted into thought.

“Hmm……”

Forced to answer, a memory she had long forgotten rose to the surface.

‘Come with me. We’re going to the palace.’

The day she first saw the tall crown prince she had only heard about, those were the blunt words he had given her. A command more than anything else. And yet those words had given Riley an enormous sense of relief.

I have somewhere to go.

She would not be alone right away.

Queen Marietta had passed away, the servants had all gone their separate ways, and the manor stood empty. Left behind alone, she had not known where to turn.

And then the Crown Prince had appeared out of nowhere and told her to follow him.

For a moment his face had seemed to shine. He had looked genuinely magnificent. Even those cool grey eyes had seemed warm to her then, and she had resolved to serve him faithfully.

After that, working as his attendant and growing numb to his frequent lack of clothing was a separate matter, but she had always liked him. How could anyone see every side of His Highness and not?

Those cool eyes would sparkle mischievously only for her. He would tease with his words but always make sure she had the best of things.

And no matter what he wore, he looked so wonderful…… how could she not……

Riley had gone quiet, lost in the past, and Andrea tilted his head toward her in a threatening way.

“Why aren’t you answering.”

His tone was looking for something to complain about. Riley’s lips had been moving without sound, and she finally let out the truth she had only just realized herself.

“……Fr, from the very first moment I saw you.”

She said it quickly, but she meant it.

A beat of silence fell, and then the cl*max of the duet burst open. At the same moment, brilliant fireworks were launched from the ship’s railing and painted the night sky.

Bang! Bang!

From the very first moment I saw you, my heart was taken~

By coincidence, the two singers had just begun to sing the very thing Riley had said, and her gaze was pulled toward them.

She felt heat rising in her face, but the fireworks were blazing brightly enough that she took comfort in that and glanced back at Andrea.

In the middle of the performance’s excitement and the loud bursts of fireworks, the two of them looked at each other in quiet stillness.

Andrea had clearly caught her murmured answer in that brief moment, and his eyes darkened and deepened. There was something satisfied in the color of them.

He reached out, cupped her small chin, and lowered his head to press his lips to hers.

She closed her eyes.

Something hot and soft parted her lips and moved freely through the tender inner surfaces.

His tongue tasted the inside of her cheek with greedy thoroughness, then caught hers and rubbed against it. Their saliva mingled.

Every sensation seemed to concentrate and come alive only where they touched, and strangely, the thirst only grew worse.

Her every breath was taken from her, and she felt the noise of the world around her go still at her ears.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

The moment they got home, Andrea went straight to Riley’s bed and pressed his lips endlessly to her innocent eyelids, the tip of her nose, her lips.

It was careful, almost like an act of apology in preparation for what was to come, but with a trace of urgency beneath it.

The gentle scatter of kisses grew gradually more intense, and he could no longer contain the heat.

He nibbled at her earlobe, then pressed his lips ceaselessly to the fragrant skin of her neck, before sitting up, crossing his arms, and pulling his dress shirt off in one motion.

He looked down at her through heavy, half-lidded eyes in the dark and murmured like a man surrendering.

“You win. With you seducing me like this, there’s no way I can hold out until the wedding……”

He let out a breath instead of finishing the sentence, and cast a deep shadow over Riley.

Hot breath grazed her skin along her sensitive neck and collarbone. The large hand that swept up her side gripped her soft chest through the dress and began to knead it every which way.